Beware the Calm

Run!

Aeryn had never been afraid of the woods. Living in this kingdom for two thousand years, give or take, she'd come to know every inch of it like the back of her hand. She'd even go so far as to say she could navigate her way through the woods blindfolded.

Which, ironically, was what she was effectively doing now. With the fifty/fifty split vision of her special glasses, she only had a small window to look through and see what was in front of her, and it was rather distracting, having a view of what was behind her at all times as well. Movements kept making her pause and her eyes would flicker to the mirrors, only to realise it was just her imagination and she was seeing things.

Or was she? She couldn't help the strange and disconcerting feeling that she was being watched.

A rustle from behind her caused her to spin rapidly on the spot, all senses suddenly on high alert, and she decided to amend her original statement.

She'd never been afraid of these woods...until now.

The church wasn't far away – just on the other side of this next clearing she was about to come to. Quickening her pace, she focussed on getting there as quickly as she could, though her eyes continually flicked to the mirrors as she checked what was behind her, scaring herself as she began to panic.

"There's nothing there," she told herself quietly. "There's nothing there. There's nothing there. There's - "

Something large and black slid across the mirrors, and she froze, not even daring to breath as she watched, her heart skipping several beats before turning up the pace and starting it's own rapid drum role, which only seemed to highlight the state of panic she was now in.

Very slowly, and letting out her breath as quietly as she could, she reached up with a trembling hand and flicked the switch on the arm so that the vision became completely mirrored, blocking out whatever was in front of her. Now she was blind to what she was facing, but she could see everything that was happening behind her, and very much wished she couldn't.

A huge black mass was slithering silently through the trees about thirty feet away, leaving a trail of dead foliage in it's wake. It's body was enormous – as round as three men were wide, and so long that she'd been watching it for a good ten seconds now, and it was still coming – the scales pulsating and the muscles moving as it propelled itself along in a way that only snakes can.

But if that was the body, then where was the head?

A movement in front of her caused her to once again hitch in her breath and hold it, but remaining still was becoming increasingly difficult through her tremors of fear.

"Doctor?" She whimpered in the lightest whisper she could manage. "Doctor!"

"Everything all right Hoppity? What's keeping you so long? I thought I might die of old age before you get here, and believe me that's saying something."

"Doctor," she whispered. "Look!"

There was a moment's pause, and then, "Ah. Well then...wasn't expecting that. You're not looking directly at it, are you? No, course you're not, you're using the mirror setting. Smart. Well done. Which leaves us with a problem. Question: If the tail of the basilisk is behind you, where is it's head?"

She didn't want to speak, because somehow she could sense that whatever was in front of her was getting closer.

"Conclusion: It's probably in front of you and you can't see it. Not so smart. Can you switch your glasses back to forward view?"